August 2017 — Kate is a rising senior at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, majoring in Environmental Science and Public Policy. She first became interested in agriculture while doing environmental conservation projects in South America during a gap year between high school and college. While in Ecuador, Peru, and Argentina, she worked on a coffee co-op and a cattle ranch and learned about different conservation and permaculture techniques.
This summer, Kate is working with the Polk County Agricultural Economic Development Center to evaluate the economic impact of the county’s three farmers’ markets. With her mentor Dawn Jordan and their partner organization GRO (Growing Rural Opportunities), Kate surveys customers about where they are traveling from and how much money they are spending at market.
Kate also works on farmers’ market promotion, and promoting initiatives to get kids and young adults involved in the markets. Part of Kate’s work this summer was to identify funding for a permanent market structure, where Polk County hopes to combine their three existing markets into one.
During her apprenticeship, Kate interacted with many small-scale producers and learned how hard it is for them to get by. “The system is not made for small farmers to thrive,” says Kate. “There’s a new micro-dairy about to open down the road and the regulations to get certified are the same for them and for a massive dairy operation. For one couple to do all that eats up so much time and resources that they need for other things.”
This article originally appeared in the August 2017 NC Growing Together Newsletter.